An Arizona man who was arrested at the behest of the TSA, following a wisecrack over a jar of peanut butter is suing the federal agency for $5 million.

Frank Hannibal, was detained and dragged from LaGuardia Airport recently by police after a run-in with TSA agents over the jar of gourmet sandwich spread.
Hannibal told the New York Daily News….“The liquid oil that separated from the peanut butter had them baffled.”

Hannibal then commented to his wife and children that “They’re looking to confiscate my explosives,” as TSA agents inspected the 16-ounce jar of “Crazy Richards” chunky peanut butter.

TSA screener Edwin Sanchez, overheard Hannibal’s remark, did not see the funny side, and immediately called the cops, according to the court complaint.
Hannibal spent the next 24 hours in a cell, during which time he was fed a peanut butter sandwich by cops who later charged him with the felony of “falsely reporting an incident”.

Hannibal has brought a $5-million-dollar lawsuit against the TSA worker and the Port Authority officer who arrested him, all over a $7 jar of peanut butter which was returned to him upon his release from jail.

His attorney, Alan D. Levine of Queens, noted, “It’s a sorry state of affairs in this country when sarcasm is considered a felony,” adding that TSA agents need to act with common sense in such situations.

This is not an isolated incident. The TSA has a history of concentrating on looking out for cakes and pies, as well as sauces, oils and vinegars.

The Homeland Security agency has also instituted a crack down on candy and cupcakes.

A bit much.

While Mr. Hannibal should never have wisecracked about having explosives…which would make anyone jumpy, all the TSA agents needed to do was check the contents of said jar, and they would have seen that it was innocuous peanut oil.

But no, just for uttering a dopey joke, the guy spends 24 hours in jail and now may have a nice piece of change coming his way.